Competition Committee announces new rule, bylaw proposals

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 19, 2014, 3:23 PM EST

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The NFL Competition Committee announced 13 new rule proposals, seven new bylaw proposals and one proposed resolution on a conference call on Wednesday. The NFL’s owners will vote at next week’s league meeting on the potential changes, which we detail below.

Rule change proposals:

1. Move the kickoff to the 40-yard line.

2. Expand instant replay to include personal foul penalties.

3. Eliminate overtime in the preseason.

4. Extend the goal posts an additional five feet above the cross bar.

5. Move the line of scrimmage for one-point extra point kicks to the defensive team’s 25-yard line. Two-point conversion attempts would still be snapped from the 2-yard line.

6. Put six cameras on all boundary lines — sideline, goal line, end line, to guarantee coverage for replay reviews.

7. Permit a coach to challenge any official’s decision, except scoring plays which are automatically reviewed.

8. Protect players from getting the sides of their legs rolled up on — the rule already says a blocker can’t hit an opponent in the back of the legs, this proposal will add “or side” to the rule.

9. Allow the referee to consult with members of the NFL officiating department during replay reviews. The referee would be able to speak with the command center in New York to help in reviewing a play.

10. Re-organize the rules about what can be reviewed and what cannot be reviewed, including making the recovery of a loose ball in the field of play reviewable. (This is referred to as the NaVorro Bowman rule, after a controversial call in the NFC Championship Game.)

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack.

12. Modify pass interference so that it can be called within one yard of the line of scrimmage.

13. Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul.

Bylaw proposals:

1. Raise the number of active players on game day from 46 to 49 for regular-season games played on a day other than Sunday or Monday, excluding Week One.

2. Raise the practice squad limit from eight players to 10 players.

3. Permit clubs to trade players prior to the start of the league year.

4. Eliminate the cut-down to 75 players during training camp and instead just have one cut-down from 90 players to 53 players.

5. Permit more than one player to return to the active list from injured reserve so that any player on injured reserve could return after six weeks.

6. Permit each club to time and test up to 10 draft-eligible players at its facility, and allow any club that wishes to attend timing and testing at another team’s facility.

7. Adjust the time of the roster reduction from 53 after the fourth preseason game from 6 p.m. Eastern to 4 p.m. Eastern. All teams would have to have their list of final cuts in by 4 p.m.

Resolution proposal:

1. Permit a home team with a retractable roof to open or close its roof at halftime, instead of having to determine at the start of the game whether it is open or closed.

Just move the kickoff to midfield so someone in the upper deck can catch a ball. What a joke. Just get rid of them already. There will literally never be a return if the kicker is 60 yards from the endzone.

Keep moving the kickoff up, and kicking it for no reason, and onside kicks will become the norm. I’d say 20-30 yards of field position is worth the risk of an onside kick if you are automatically give the touchback at the 20 vs. the opposing team recovering the onside kick at their own 45-50.

I don’t like the rule about sacks, it should be set up to favor the Defense. If you are behind and creating a sack to get the ball back then the clock should freeze, but if you are trying to run the clock out then you can do a cheap play with having the QB run around and waste time and field position in exchange for extra seconds. Forcing the clock to stop if you are trying to take an intentional sack would help.

And would be very nice to see trades open up before the league year starts to hopefully stimulate more activity between teams and improve flexibility in knowing what needs to target when FA opens up.

Kickoffs to the 40 yard line? No way Devin Hester gets his $4M salary if they do that….

I am most interested in the extra 6 cameras. Not sure there is a way to address the “spot of the ball on short yardage or when there is a pileup, but this helps a lot of plays. Just have to keep Mike Tomlin from blocking the camera when he wanders out on the field.

Generally seem quite sensible, but I don’t get :
5. Make the PAT from the 25 yard line, this makes it a 42 yard field goal, which seems a bit harsh.
By law 1. Why not make all 53 players eligible for game day. What’s the point in training all week, then being rested on game day.

Pass interference is the most lethal and important call on the field, Hard to understand why it is not reviewable at this point. When you factor in that it’s a “bang, bang” play which requires a split second decision by the ref with a potential 50-60 yard change in field position. Head scratcher.

Generally seems quite sensible, but I don’t get moving the PAT to the 25 yard line, that makes it a 42 yard field, which seems harsh.
Also bye law 1, why not let all 53 players actually play on game day. Seems unfair to practice all week then have to rest on game day.

#8 is a bad idea. Defensive players are not gunna have any where to hit an offensive player. Not in the back, side, and keep it above the waste and below the shoulders. And do that at full speed with the other player doing spins and jumping over people. They should just make a rule to eliminate the defense, or turn it into flag football.

Devin Hester might as well retire if they move kickoff to the 40 yrd line. Kickoffs from the 35 already have changed the game dramaticly.

Every team now starts a drive from the 20 instead of somewhere between the 20-35 yard line after kickoff. At the end of the year that extra 10-15 yards two or three times a game you need to drive to get a touchdown can add up the between 400-600 yards of offense extra for the season, usually for the quarterback.

The KO from the 40 sucks, but the other proposals are excellent, esp. the ones involving the rosters. Teams playing on Thurs. always have guys who are dinged up, but would be ok by the following Sunday. Now they can try to play, and if they can’t go, there’s another body on the roster to help out.

Any rules changes that further hurt the defense I am dead set against.

We’ve done SO much over the last 15 or so years to help the offenses that the league is now well known as a “passing league”.

It’s taken a long time but we’re just now starting to see teams adjust and become adept at playing tough, hard nosed, and CLEAN (aka safe) hits as evidenced by the 49ers, Panthers, Seahawks and a few other teams. This has truly made the game so much more entertaining.

Don’t make any further changes to upset this balance. Maybe in 10 or 15 years IF we start to see lots of 10 to 6 final scores, but until then, let ’em play. The game is awesome the way it is!

12. Modify pass interference so that it can be called within one yard of the line of scrimmage.

This is as bad an idea as I can think of. As soon as the db engages the wr’s push off or vice versa, a flag goes flying? That’s a flag every single pass play. And I thought Polian was bad in the early 2000’s. Terrible idea.

1. This all but guarantees that every possession begins on the 20. Boring.
2. The possibility a personal foul will be overturned on review will be very low…i.e. high risk coach’s call on a challenge for possible loss of a timeout.
3. Nobody cares about the win/loss columns during preseason so nobody should care about tie games…agreed.
4. Goal posts still ain’t tall enough…really?
5. Two-point conversions will have an extraordinary low chance of success, and extends the possibility for somebody to get injured.
6. More and more cameras have been added over the years, then they switched to high-def and added more. Still not enough, eh?
7. What about turnovers? No longer automatically reviewed?
8. Add “or shoestrings”, or else somebody will feel they got screwed on a non-call.
9. Longer replay reviews! YaY!
10. Because ONE play should get everybody thinking about completely reorganizing the rules about replay.
11. Great…now that 320lb defensive tackle has a reason not to get off the quarterback as quickly as possible late in the 4th quarter anymore.
12. Bump-and-run ends with the bump at the time of the snap, offense gets advanced one yard and a new set of downs. Tight ends value skyrockets. Brilliant.
13. Meh

Bylaw #4 proposal totally sucks. Teams are looking for released players during cut-downs, and players to be cut are trying to make any team. Waiting until final cut for everybody means a very busy and confusing time just before Week 1, with literally zero time for transitioning players to ramp up with their new team.

The NFL is becoming much like “big brother”/ the U.S. Gov’t. . Rather than upholding the “constitution” that the game was founded on, Goodell has decided that his executive orders will drive the change that the game needs. Newsflash! The NFL product is the #1 product in SPORTS!! It’s a money making machine. Get your hands out of it !

The current rule that change 11 is addressing, the clock is stopped until the ball is reset following a sack, unless it is within two minutes of the end of a half.

This is exactly the type of change the NFL should be making, removing rules that apply to specific circumstances. When a player is tackled, the rules dictating timing should be the same throughout the game, regardless of who was tackled and when.

The sole discretion to open the roof at half time would give the home team even more of an advantage. If there’s significant wind in one direction the home team could pick and choose the roof situation to adjust…

How about that ridiculous pass interference call that can result in 20 & 30 yard penalties (and sometimes more). Make it a straight 15 yarder. Half the time the ref doesn’t even see the entire play anyhow and makes a judgement call.

On pass plays, if a defender’s arm is up with hand pronated near receiver’s head and defender is not looking and receiver has at least one foot in the end zone and receiver’s back is facing out of bounds and defender is on his way out of bounds and receiver is in defenders way and the defender’s momentum is perpendicular to the ball’s direction, this has to be some kind of penalty.

Moving the kickoff to the 40 with no other ammendment to the kickoff rule is a terrible idea.

If they move it to the 40, the should also penalize a kicker who booms the ball out of the end zone. In that case, the receiving team should get the ball at the 35 or 40. If the ball bounces or rolls out of the end zone that would be ok and handled like it is today…a touchback to the 20 yard line.

This would allow for more kickoff returns but fewer high speed collisions. Kickers would be pooching or squibbing the ball. Returns would be slower to develop. There’d be less time to build up bone crushing momentum. And guys like Devin Hester would remain relevant.

A personal foul that would be assessed on a kickoff – the yardage should be taken AFTER the return, not where the ball is spotted to be kicked. How are you penalizing a team when the ball is kicked from the 50 (currently, or the opposite 45 if #1 passes) and will 99% of the time be a touchback? Kick it off normally and if it’s a touchback, it’s half the distance to the 10 – if it’s returned, it’s 15 yards or half the distance depending on where the play ends. If the kickoff is returned for a TD, the score is erased and the ball placed at the kicking team’s 15.

I like the retractable roof provision. Sometimes the weather is too hot at kickoff early in the season, but then it gets mild later in the afternoon. Right now in AZ, we may get 1 game a year with the roof open.

Rule change thoughts:
1. Do the Panthers get any extra points when Graham Gano kicks the ball through the window of the suite facing the end zone on the 400 level?
2-4 – I’m fine with these
5. If you’re increasing the height of the goal posts, this is too much of an adjustment. Make it the 15 yard line.
6 – 7 – Fine with these.
8. Should all players have tiny bulls-eyes on their jerseys to represent the tiny area of legal hits?
9. The NHL has been doing this for years and it hasn’t added much to game length. This is fine.
10. This should have been in place long ago.
11. I agree wth the comment that this should always benefit the defense.
12. Stupidest rule change of all time. Kill it now.
13. Fine with this one.

Bylaw proposals:
1. There should NEVER be inactives, EVER. If they made the 53-man roster, suit them up.
2-4 – These are fine. #4 will extend Armanti Edwards’ training camp career significantly.
5-7 – These are fine.

Why even have a kickoff if your going to move the kickoff up another 5? Just start drives at the 20 and be done with it. You already rarely have kickoffs, now you definitely won’t have them. So the kickoff will done fore what purpose?

So a sack stops the clock, does that mean QB kneel downs are eliminated then as it’s a practical sack?

I’m actually in favour of this as every team should have to play to the final whistle, there’s nothing more demoralizing than having a team kneel down 3 times leading by 1 point with 1:30 left to play, make them run the ball if they want to run the clock, at least the losing team has a chance of recovering a fumble.

A game is supposed to be played over 60 mins!

Oh and PI calls absolutely should be challengeable and reviewable, too many mistakes by the officials this last season cost teams games, especially Patriots opponents.